Interactive documentary

Journey to Europa

To the ocean beneath the ice — the best place to look for life.

A cinematic, narrated expedition in 6 acts — it flies the 3D universe, embeds real mission replays and Academy lessons, and lets you walk the surface. Every act is a place you can also explore in full.

The expedition

Act 1
The Question
Why we go
- Journey to EuropaSomewhere out past Mars, an ocean has been waiting in the dark.
- The oldest questionWe have searched the stars for company and found only silence. But the answer may not be far away at all — it may be frozen into a small moon of Jupiter, hidden under a lid of ice.
- An ocean in the coldIt shouldn't be possible. This far from the Sun, water should be rock-hard forever. And yet, beneath the ice, something keeps a whole sea liquid — and warm.
Act 2
The Long Crossing
Out to the giant
- Act IIThe Long Crossing
- To the giant→We leave the warm inner worlds behind and fall outward toward the king of planets — a striped giant so vast it could swallow a thousand Earths, ruling a court of moons.
Act 3
The Ice World
What our first eyes saw
- Act IIIThe Ice World
- A world without mountainsWhen the Voyagers swept past, they found something strange — a moon almost perfectly smooth, brighter than snow, with no great mountains and almost no craters. A young face, on an ancient world.
- The cracked shell→Then Galileo the spacecraft arrived, and drew closer. Across that white surface ran thousands of long, rust-coloured cracks — a shell of ice, fractured and healed again and again, as if something below were pushing up.
Act 4
Under the Ice
The discovery
- Act IVUnder the Ice
- A global seaBeneath twenty kilometres of ice lies a global ocean of salt water — dark, deep, and warm. Twice as much water as all of Earth's seas, kept liquid not by the Sun, but by Jupiter itself.
- Everything life needsWater. Warmth. And rock on the ocean floor to feed on. For the first time, we knew of another place with every ingredient life requires — sitting quietly in the outer dark, unvisited.
Act 5
Walk on Europa
Stand on the frozen crust
- Act VWalk on Europa
- The surface of EuropaStand on the frozen crust. The ice is streaked with red, the horizon close and curved, and Jupiter fills a quarter of the sky. Somewhere beneath your feet, an ocean is moving.
Act 6
The Future
Reaching the sea
- Act VIThe Future
- Europa Clipper arrivesA spacecraft is crossing the gulf right now. Arriving around 2030, Europa Clipper will sweep past this moon again and again, reading the ice, tasting the plumes, mapping the sea it cannot see.
- Through the iceAnd beyond it lies the dream — to land, to melt down through kilometres of ice, and lower a machine into a sea no light has ever touched. To find out, at last, whether we are alone.

Journey to Europa

To the ocean beneath the ice — the best place to look for life.

The expedition

Act 1

The Question

Why we go

Journey to EuropaSomewhere out past Mars, an ocean has been waiting in the dark.
The oldest questionWe have searched the stars for company and found only silence. But the answer may not be far away at all — it may be frozen into a small moon of Jupiter, hidden under a lid of ice.
An ocean in the coldIt shouldn't be possible. This far from the Sun, water should be rock-hard forever. And yet, beneath the ice, something keeps a whole sea liquid — and warm.

Act 2

The Long Crossing

Out to the giant

Act IIThe Long Crossing
To the giant→We leave the warm inner worlds behind and fall outward toward the king of planets — a striped giant so vast it could swallow a thousand Earths, ruling a court of moons.

Act 3

The Ice World

What our first eyes saw

Act IIIThe Ice World
A world without mountainsWhen the Voyagers swept past, they found something strange — a moon almost perfectly smooth, brighter than snow, with no great mountains and almost no craters. A young face, on an ancient world.
The cracked shell→Then Galileo the spacecraft arrived, and drew closer. Across that white surface ran thousands of long, rust-coloured cracks — a shell of ice, fractured and healed again and again, as if something below were pushing up.

Act 4

Under the Ice

The discovery

Act IVUnder the Ice
A global seaBeneath twenty kilometres of ice lies a global ocean of salt water — dark, deep, and warm. Twice as much water as all of Earth's seas, kept liquid not by the Sun, but by Jupiter itself.
Everything life needsWater. Warmth. And rock on the ocean floor to feed on. For the first time, we knew of another place with every ingredient life requires — sitting quietly in the outer dark, unvisited.

Act 5

Walk on Europa

Stand on the frozen crust

Act VWalk on Europa
The surface of EuropaStand on the frozen crust. The ice is streaked with red, the horizon close and curved, and Jupiter fills a quarter of the sky. Somewhere beneath your feet, an ocean is moving.

Act 6

The Future

Reaching the sea

Act VIThe Future
Europa Clipper arrivesA spacecraft is crossing the gulf right now. Arriving around 2030, Europa Clipper will sweep past this moon again and again, reading the ice, tasting the plumes, mapping the sea it cannot see.
Through the iceAnd beyond it lies the dream — to land, to melt down through kilometres of ice, and lower a machine into a sea no light has ever touched. To find out, at last, whether we are alone.